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Pro-Khalistan Activist Amritpal Singh declared fugitive- What is happening in “India’s Bread Basket” Punjab?

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Internet services were suspended across the state of Punjab on Saturday and are still suspended as of now on Sunday, officials confirmed. According to press sources, Amritpal Singh, the leader of Waris Punjab De and a supporter of the Khalistani movement, has been the target of Punjab Police operation.

The Department of Home Affairs and Justice, Government of Punjab, stated that all mobile internet services, all SMS services (aside from banking & mobile recharge), and all dongle services provided on mobile networks, aside from voice calls, shall be suspended. The Punjab Police today conducted a large crackdown on “Waris Punjab De,” detaining 78 activists in the Jalandhar area in response to criticism regarding the allegedly worsening peace and order situation in the state. Amritpal Singh, a pro-Khalistan activist, evaded capture despite a significant police presence in the Jalandhar neighborhood of Shahkot. The police asserted that they had taken 373 ammunition, a revolver, seven 12-bore rifles, and one 315-bore rifle from the demonstrators.

Also, read India: Violence Against Women on Holi Reeks of Communal and Racial Tensions

Is Amritpal Singh still on the run?

The radical preacher Amritpal Singh is still on the run, according to the Punjab Police, who also stated that a big search operation has begun to apprehend the leader of the Waris Punjab De organization.

The statement followed earlier today’s media reports that stated Singh and a number of his allies had been detained by the Punjab Police.

According to a statement from Punjab Police, the state has begun extensive Cordon and Search operations against Waris Punjab De members.

Read here, Khalistan Movement – India’s Unity Under Threat (A Brewing Civil War)

What led to the Crackdown?

On Thursday, in an anomalous course of events, a group of men armed with swords and guns stormed a police station in Ajnala, on the outskirts of Amritsar, demanding the release of Lovepreet Singh, also known by his alias “Toofan,”.Singh was being held on kidnapping charges and assault on a Chamkaur Sahib-based resident Varinder Singh. Lovepreet Singh alias Toofan, who is a close associate of “Waris Punjab De” leader Amritpal Singh, had turned to activism during the farm agitation at the Delhi border. Lovepreet Singh, a Sikh preacher, and modest farmer has long advocated for Sikh causes.

Amritpal Singh, 30, who has gained notoriety in Punjab over the past six to seven months as a Sikh preacher and infamous sympathizer for Khalistan, was at the epicenter of these events. He claims to be a devoted follower of Bhindranwale, a militant leader who supported Khalistan and was assassinated in the infamous operation Blue Star on June 6, 1984.

Lovepreet Singh was released from jail the following day, but this entire incident has raised numerous issues with Punjabi politics, government, and law and order.

Also, read Demolition Drives in Kashmir- Is India following the Israeli Model in Kashmir?

Who is Amritpal Singh?

Born in 1993, Amritpal Singh Sandhu hails from Jallupur Khera village in Baba Bakala tehsil of Amritsar district. He is said to have studied up to the plus two levels before he left for Dubai for work in 2012. Singh, a 29-year-old Dubai-returned Sikh who recently moved to Punjab, has abruptly entered the religiopolitical scene after taking control of Waris Punjab De, an organization that actor-activist Deep Sidhu founded before his supposed accident caused death in February 2022.

“We (Sikhs) have become a community of slaves” – this is a message Amritpal Singh, the head of Waris Punjab De, is heard proclaiming in most of his speeches.

His surrounding social media activity suggests that he had been advocating for Sikh causes for at least the previous five years or so. He joined the anti-farm law demonstrations, notably the Deep Sidhu-related faction of the movement. According to Deep Sidhu’s statements at the Shambhu Border, his branch of the movement was distinct from the farm unions since he advocated for a more comprehensive political and social reform of Punjab rather than just the repeal of agricultural regulations. He believed that the movement should’ve been carried forward even after the repelling of the controversial farm laws. 

According to Quint, apparently, Amritpal never met Deep Sidhu and the two interacted only through social media.

However, the ministry of home affairs is reported to have told the Punjab government to keep a watch on his activities. Captain Amarinder Singh has asked the government to take action against him and a Shiv Sena faction wants him booked under UAPA. His Twitter account was withheld in India on 7 October 2022, reports The Quint.

Read here, Sopore Massacre 1993- When 57 Civilians Were Killed in Kashmir

What does the Socio-Political scene in Punjab look like?

There have been a number of political responses to this, with the Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar denouncing the crackdown while the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress supported it. Following the announcement of the crackdown on Singh, a number of political figures from various parties have pleaded for peace in Punjab. However, the general public’s perception of him is sharply divided, with supporters applauding his efforts to resuscitate Sikhi and his anti-drug campaign in addition to the enormous crowds at his events. Critics, on the other hand, charge him of usurpation and with attempting to destabilize Punjab.

Also, read India: School Principal Booked After Students Recite Iqbal’s Poem- What Makes Muhammad Iqbal a Contentious Figure in India?

Anxieties over the rise of a potential militancy in Punjab?

The Khalistan movement, which was previously seen as more of a foreign diaspora concern, is currently making news in India due to farmer protests, but the subject is becoming more prominent due to the recent series of events and the emergence of Amritpal Singh as a pro-Khalistan leader. Anxieties are being risen along the lines of this crisis turning into a potential threat of militancy in Punjab.

Harjeshwar Pal Singh, an assistant professor of History based in Chandigarh thinks that it will not lead to a rise in militancy because there has been strong criticism within the community against the ways adopted by Amritpal Singh.

Author of Panjab: Journeys through fault line, Amandeep Sandhu enunciates the larger problems which have been plaguing the state and which might have come into the forefront with such issues. The rise of someone like Amritpal Singh, in Sandhu’s opinion, is evidence that numerous governments have historically failed to address various issues at their root.

While the state has been apparently working to put Punjab’s violent history of bloodshed and militancy behind it, these images have brought back memories of those times. Anxieties are being risen along the lines of this crisis turning into a potential threat of militancy in Punjab.

Read here, How Practical is the Secular Democracy of India? Curbing of Religious Freedom in Kashmir

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Huwara rampage: a prova for a possible Israeli Holocaust.

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Huwara rampage

On 26 February,  hundreds of heavily armed Jewish settlers protected by the Israeli army,  rampaged through the Palestinian village of Huwara, just south of the northern West Bank town of Nablus, ransacking and torching homes and property and killing at least one local resident. According to the Palestinian health ministry, hundreds of people were injured, with many sustaining serious and crippling wounds that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The rampage in Huwara has been described as the most violent since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.

According to various sources, the settlers had received definitive instructions from government officials telling them “to teach the Palestinians a lesson they wouldn’t forget.”

The settlers, affiliated with the religious Zionist movement, are indoctrinated in a Nazi-like  Talmudic ideology which considers the targeting of innocent noncombatants such as children,  women and the elderly as perfectly legitimate during the time of conflict.

 The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has accused the Israeli government, the most racist and fascist ever,  of backing a rampage in Huwara. Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich was quoted as saying that Huwara needs to be “wiped out and razed to the ground” and that the state of Israel should do it.

Israeli Prime Minister told foreign journalists that Smotrich couldn’t use PR-friendly language to communicate his message, prompting one Israeli journalist to remark that “Netanyahu seemed to  be acting  as PR officer for Smotrich.”

Jewish-Nazism

When this and other writers employed Nazi epithets to describe current Israeli policies and behaviours in the Occupied Palestinian territories, some people, especially Western intellectuals, thought we were exaggerating the level of Israel’s genocidal Jewish barbarianism.

However an honest look at the perpetrators of the Huwara rampage reveals that these people are far from being a small or marginal extremist group, not representing the mainstream Israeli Jewish society.

Read Also: Will the West embrace Kosher Nazism following the instalment of the new Israeli government?

In fact, these are the very people who rule Israel today. They are the people of the government. They represent the crème de le crème of the Zionist religious movement in Israel.

Hence, we are not talking here about some wild weed growing uncontrollably in the midst of an otherwise sane society or anything of this sort.

Our erstwhile critics who didn’t like the use of strong epithets to describe Israel, mainly for psychological reasons,  would probably pay more attention to the purported half-full glass rather than the half-empty one.

But in all honesty, there is simply no half-full glass in  Israel today.   Some naïve observers here and there might still think that the international community wouldn’t allow Israel to cross the Rubicon.

Unfortunately,  It has now been proven that neither Israel could be given the benefit of the doubt nor could the so-called international community be entrusted to prevent or even restrain the increasingly brazenly Nazi entity from doing the unthinkable, namely launching a partial or full genocide against the unprotected Palestinians.

Indeed,  the feeble American and European reactions to the Jewish rampage at the village of Huwara proved that the US can not be relied upon to rein in or restrain Jewish Nazism in Palestine.

The US, after all, is the very country that enabled Israel to be what it is and reach this evil level of barbarianism and arrogance of power by funding, defending and constantly optimizing Israeli Nazism.

Hence, relying on Washington to rein in genocidal Israel is merely a futile exercise in naivety, day-dreaming and wishful thinking.

Besides, All that America can offer to force Israel to behave doesn’t really go beyond futile gentle preaching stressing the need to exercise self-restraint and not indulge in incitement and extremism.

But Israel is not restrained by gentle preaching and polite rebuking or even harsh verbal chastisement. Such a toothless discourse will have no effect whatsoever on a shameless violator of international law, but could actually further embolden the Zionist entity even further.

What Israel needs is a thorough de-Nazification which would convince the racist supremacists in occupied Palestine that the recurrent rampages and genocidal savagery against the Palestinian people would have serious consequences on the Israel state.

Huwara rampage : Prova for a real Holucaust?

As someone who is quite familiar with the religious Zionist mindset, I can safely argue that the rampage at Huwara, which represents the cumulative outcome of years of toxic incitement by the Talmudic schools, such as the Merkaz Ha-Rav in West Jerusalem (the CNS of religious Zionism in Israel) is just a mere prova for something to come that is much more ominous, much more and much more genocidal.

Indeed, if these genocidal thugs and killer beasts could do this shamelessly in front of TV cameras from all over the world, just imagine how they would behave and what they would  do to their helpless victims if the area were to be declared a close military Zone and all journalists and cameramen were ordered to leave.

I am saying this because I am completely convinced that the concept of genocide is absolutely and completely compatible with the religious teaching and ideological indoctrination of these people who apparently were spoon-fed this poison since their kindergarten days.

As a journalist who has been covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially the settler phenomenon, ever since I graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1981, I can honestly argue with all honesty and rectitude, that these people represent the Nazis of our time.

I am not eager to put any people down, and I’m absolutely and totally against all forms of anti-Semitism.

But we must call the spade a spade, irrespective of whether we see the proverbial implement in the hands of Da’esh killers, Jewish settlers in Huwara or Vagner mercenaries in Ukraine. If we don’t wake up, if the world doesn’t wake up now, especially after what we saw in  Huwara, when will we wake up?

The Huwara rampage is more than just writing on the wall. It is more than a  dark cloud hanging over the West Bank. The rampage in Huwarra is actually the penultimate step, the sound alarm coming before a real genocide that could be carried out at any moment by these reptile murderers, protected and assisted by the  Israeli army.

Enter the Palestinian Authority

As to Palestinians, they must not allow themselves to be beguiled or sedated by worthless statements coming from the American state department.

The neo-Nazi trio of Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich will not give a  hoot to worthless statements coming from worthless people in Washington.

In September 1982, the Reagan administration gave solemn assurances to the PLO that no Palestinian refugees in the Beirut region would be harmed if PLO forces left Beirut.

However, when the PLO left, as part of an agreement mediated by the American envoy Phillip Habib, Israel’s Christian allies, the Phallangists, ganged up on the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, south of Beirut, ransacking the two camps and slaughtering more than 3500 innocent men, women and children. Not a single perpetrator was prosecuted or punished for the genocidal massacre.

The Palestinians must not commit the same criminal blunder again, by trusting the US to protect our unarmed civilians from the Nazis of our time.

We need something much more concrete, much more reliable and much more certain. After all, it is our children’s lives at stake! Today, they set homes on fire while children and babies inside.

Tomorrow they will build a huge crematorium to burn our kids in broad daylight while a US State Department would regurgitate the same stale statements about Israel having the right to defend itself!

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Khalistan Movement – India’s Unity Under Threat (A Brewing Civil War)

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khalistan movement

A force capable of breaking India into a civil war and driving a second
partition
is simmering in Punjab. After losing popularity in one of the
most brutal times in Indian history, the Khalistan movement is rising once
again. With a new face but the same old demands, a separate Sikh nation.

Under Amritpal Singh Sandhu, the self-styled Chief of Khalistanis, the
movement is un-stabilizing the political landscape. And with a comparatively
weak government head of state, the future seems more brim.

But what is the Khalistan movement? Who is Amritpal Singh Sandhu? Why
should the central government be worried about the uprising? And what does it
mean for Punjab and India?

Here’s a detailed explainer:

Understanding the Khalistan
Movement

The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement that aims to establish a sovereign state for the Sikhs named Khalistan. This nation should include Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and a few districts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The movement first emerged ten years into independent India in 1960. Jagjit
Singh Chohan, the former Finance Minister of Punjab, demanded a separate Khalistan, which gave rise to the movement in the 1970s and reached its peak in the 1980s under Indira Gandhi’s government.

While Jagjit Singh created a Sikh extremist government in Pakistan and
collected millions of dollars from the US to form Khalistan; in India, the
reins of the movement were in Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale‘s hands.

Financed by Jagjit and supported by Pak ISI, Bhindranwale’s popularity
skyrocketed in Punjab. Under his leadership, the Khalistan movement grew, with
thousands of extremist Sikhs joining. He urged his followers to restore the Khalsa
(Orthodox Sikh religion) in Sikh society.  His protests targeted Hindus and the ‘modernized
Sikhs.’

“He (Bhindranwale) used offensive language against Hindus. He exhorted every Sikh to kill 32 Hindus to solve the Hindu-Sikh problem” 

These were very violent times in Punjab, but all this was coming to an end with Operation Blue Star in 1984. While in a hideout in the Golden Temple, Bhindranwale’s followers continued bombing across Punjab. However, in operation, the Khalistan
the leader was assassinated and took control of the temple.

According to official statements, about 500 militants and civilians died in
the attack, but independent organizations estimate over 3000 deaths. Four months
later, on 31st October 1984, Prime Minister Indra Gandhi was
murdered by her two Sikh bodyguards, which gave rise to anti-Sikh riots. This resulted in the deaths of 8000 Sikhs.

Resurfacing Khalistan Movement

The anti-Sikh riot rooted a hatred amongst Sikhs for the Indian government
and made Bhindranwale a freedom fighter. Post the attack, numerous incidents, including the attack on an Air India Plan that left over 300 dead, followed.

While the Indian government stabilized the situation in the country’s popular
Kahlistani militants started operating from the US, UK, and Canada. The group
even used the latest farmer’s protest to increase militancy in Punjab.

So Bhindranwale died, but the Khalistan movement survived, and now they have a new leader – Amritpal Singh Sandhu.

Who is Amritpal & How He Became the Leader of the Khalistan Movement?

Born in 1933, Amritpal Singh Sandhu was a normal man living in Dubai. But the
name, unfamiliar just a few months back, has now become a popular leader in
Punjab.

Named Bhindranwale 2.0, Deep Sidhu became a controversial figure during the
2020 farmer’s protest after starting the ‘Waris Punjab De’, a social
organization. After his death, Amritpal took the leading position in the
organization.

Before joining the organization two years back, Sandhu didn’t even wear a
turban. But soon after joining, he underwent a remarkable transformation,
rising to a position of influence and power in the Kahlistani movement.

Amritpal took his anointment in the native village of Bhindranwale, who
serves as Sandhu’s inspiration. Since September 2022, he started dressing like
his inspiration and even began carrying a steel arrow, precisely like
Bhindranwale has done in the past.

Amirtpal claims his agenda is to bring in the religious and social transformation
to Punjab. But his group has also attacked and vandalized Gurudwaras (Sikh
temples). Similar to Bhindranwale, Sandhu delivers ferocious speeches in an
effort to pique the interest of Punjab’s youth.

He urges them to give up narcotics and get involved in the effort to
resurrect the “panth” and rid it of its “slavery” mentality. He openly criticises other religions and supports “sampuran raj” in place of “Waziri,” or slavery, in a manner
reminiscent of Bhindranwale.

For his controversial remarks, most recently directed at Union Home Minister
Amit Shah, he said, “his fate will be similar to that of former prime minister
Indira Gandhi.

All this soon bubbled up to the Anjala police station attack.

The Anjala Police Station Attack

“If the fire lodged against me isn’t scrapped within one hour, the administration
of Punjab should be held responsible for the consequences”

Amritpal Sandhu

Six months back, the Punjab police arrested Lavpreet Singh, a leading member
of the Waris Punjab De organization. Protesting against the arrest and the FIR on Amripal, the supporter of Sandhu surrounded the police station in massive numbers on 23rd February.

To impede the aggressive demonstrators – armed with swords – police
barricaded the area with additional forces brought in from five districts. In
now-viral videos of the violent protests, a huge number of Khalistanis were
seen breaking barricades and attacking the police with swords.

88

Some reports claim that the mob even took control of the police as the
forces were left overwhelmed by the crowd.

Where is India Going Wrong?

Much like during the Bhindranwale uprising, there’s a pungent political
complicity and  opportunism in Punjab. In 1980, the ruling Congress Party and Akali Dal supported the movement in its early stages. That’s why Bhindranwale was not arrested based on myopic political reasoning, which led to violent protests and thousands, including Indra Gandhi’s dead.

History is repeating itself again.

The current AAP government won the state election with the support of
Kahlistani sympathizers. Unfortunately, despite seeing the spiking unrest
caused by the movement, the government is reluctant to intervene firmly, as
seen in the Anjala police station attack.

An annual police meeting held of January 2023 claimed that after 2015, the
attempt to revive militancy in Punjab in on the rise. Just like in 1980s and
90s, the Khalistanis are re-engaging with local criminals group to promote
their agenda.

Numerous reporters are proving that the current Khalistan uprising is fueled
by foreign and local actors. Targeting mostly youth, vulnerable Sikh into their
devious plans the organization is actively running misinformation campaigns on
social media against Indian establishments to dispel any disconnect between the
larger Sikh diaspora and the Indian government.

The Threat to India’s Unity

Instances of politics powered by religion are not uncommon in India. And
while some issues must be addressed within the bounds of the law and democratic
politics, but accepting it and legitimizing Hindu majority politics, as
represented by the demand for Hindu Rashtra is a whole other story.

The most obvious risk of religious politics, as seen in the Khalistan
movement, can also provoke other religious extremist communities to protest.
Once, Amritpal questioned why no legal action was taken against communities
calling for a Hindu Rashtra.

India’s civilizational unity is based on the diversity of different
religions and ethnicities. That’s why attempts to forcefully homogenize are
extremely dangerous for the nation.

Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Meghalaya are Christian-majority
states. Jammu & Kashmir is a Muslim-majority state. Similarly, Punjab is a
Sikh-majority state.

Figures like Amritpal try to ignite religious nationalism by infusing
competitive religious supremacism amongst the extremists. Sikhs have long lived
happily with different religions in India, but now harmony is under threat. And
nobody – the government, Punjab, and India – want to relive even a section of
the nightmare of the 1980s.

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